Russia Regaining Its Power On The Global Stage

The Russian Federation is becoming a more dominant force on the global stage. They have been fighting in Ukraine, Georgia, and Syria, gaining much experience from their military campaigns. This military experience will benefit them in a major war in Ukraine, but also against the United State and NATO.

As you already know, the United States has experience fighting its war in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria. This gives the United States experience to fight against Russia in theory for conventional warfare. On the other hand, a war between the United States and Russia is unlikely because of the threat of nuclear weapons.

If we are heading into a multipolar world where Russia becomes strong again like the Soviet Union, then we will start to see more proxy wars around the globe. For example, the United State VS Russia in Syria. America was trying to remove the Syrian dictator Assad from power. Of course, Syria is a Russian ally, which means Russia had no choice to defend its ally against the United States. Currently, ISIS has been destroyed in Syria and the concept of removing Assad from power. Russia won that argument and now with ISIS collapse in Syria and Assad staying in power, means Russia has appeared to win this proxy war between the United States.

Russia is going to use their experience in warfare to their advantage. They are increasing their cyber capacities, special forces, naval capacities, and designing new military equipment. Russia has billions of dollars going towards its military to make it more modern. Here are some examples of their new equipment coming to the battlefield:

1. T-14
The T-14 Armata tank is the new modern main battle tank replacing the T-90 tank. The Russian government is planning to have 100 built by 2020 and put into service. This new tank consists of 3 man crew. One outstanding design of this new tank it has an unmanned turret. The T-14 tank has a 2A82-1M smoothbore 125mm cannon. The tank also has (APS) active protection system. APS is designed to make anti-defense weapons useless. The tank can go between 50 to 55mph. Some experts claim that the T-14 tank will become one of the most dominate tanks on the battlefield according to bbc.com & wikipedia.org.

2. Su-57
The Sukhoi Su-57 is a new modern stealth fighter jet for the Russian air force. The Sukhoi Su-57 is a fifth-generation stealth fighter jet, which contains a single seat for a pilot and twin-engine jet.This fighter jet is the first to use stealth technology for the Russian Air Force. This aircraft contains air to ground missiles and air to air missiles. It also includes a 35 UE tactical cruise missile and a nuclear supersonic cruise missile. The Russian government is hoping that their new jet fighter will go beyond 35 years for service life. The Su- 57 is expected to be in service by 2025 according to thediplomat.com & wikipedia.org.

3. Ratnik – 3 exoskeleton

The Ratnik exoskeleton suit is designed to increase the performance of a soldier for combat in the battlefield. This outfit is being developed for all ground forces. They are hoping that the suit will come into full service by 2020 and every serviceman will have one. The exoskeleton suit will contain a system for communication, a particular type of headphones, body armor for modern weapons, and a helmet that includes a flashlight, night vision and thermal heat to detect enemies according to sputniknews.com & wikipedia.org.

These new military advances by the Russian military sound impressive, but they are lacking the economic growth to mass produce these modern weapons. The military budget for Russia is around 60 to 80 billion dollars. Russia in recess years had to cut down on production because of low oil prices, which is hurting the economy. These new weapons will slowly be put into the Russian arm forces in the future.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any agency